About four months after CES, the Las Vegas Convention Center packs in more tech goodness with CTIA Wireless. It is a chance for all the big names in the mobile phone industry to put their best phones forward, and here is the newest crop.

I have listed them alphabetically in order of companies first, and then the model itself. Most of them did not have a price, but there are links to other sources with the prices. If you are in the market to buy this summer, this should give you an idea of what phones are out there, as well as the price.

HTC

Snap

Taking a page from the BlackBerry playbook, the Snap has something RIM doesn’t have: an e-mail management feature known as the Inner Circle. It involves pressing a button and bringing selected email messages from a pre-programmed selected group straight to the top. Other features include a 2 Megapixel Camera, and the ability to look nice.

Verdict: O, Snap!

LG

Electronics Neon

The big selling points of the Neon are its unusual QWERTY keyboard, and the navigation buttons below its screen, but it doesn’t look like a touchscreen. It comes with other features like Bluetooth, FM radio, and integrated FM radio, 2 Megapixel camera, picture and video recording, plus an SMS conversation box. Consider it a cheaper model of the Electronics Xenon.

Verdict: Quality at low cost.

Electronics Xenon

Like previous models of cellular phones like the Voyager or the Dare, the Electronics Xenon has both the touchscreen display (2.8 inches) and a slide-out, push-button QWERTY keyboard. The Xenon has a home screen that is customizable with widgets, along with an Annunciator menu that allows the user access to certain shortcuts. Other features include a 2-Megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS Integration, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Verdict: Another LG Electronics phone, another inert gas.

Motorola

Evoke QA4

This one sports a 2.8 touchscreen, which has the haptic feedback (vibration at the touch) which really should be required for touchscreen phones these days. When it is turned to the side, the Evoke can become a touchscreen QWERTY. This slider model comes with seven widgets that work with its Wi-Fi browser including MySpae Mobile, Follow Me Weather, Google Quicksearch, Google Picasa, RSS Reader, USA Today Mobile, as well as YouTube.

Verdict: Evokes a response.

Nokia

E71x

This cheaper version of its predecessor, the E71, has a black steel finish, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, integrated A-GPS, a 3.2 Megapixel camera, and runs the Symbian S60 platform. I believe another page from the RIM playbook has been stolen for this BlackBerry look-a-like, but it is very slim at 0.4 inches.

Verdict: E71x marks the spot.

Samsung

Impression

Considering that Samsung has recently produced a very flexible prototype of an AMOLED screen, the company seems to want to make a good impression with the Impression, the first commercially available AMOLED display on a phone. I am told that this 3.2 inch screen is a touchscreen, and it also has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3-Megapixel camera, accelerometer, and assisted GPS.

Verdict: Nice.

Instinct S30

I’m personally sick of the barrage of Instinct adds, and not looking forward to another in the collection. However, this one is a slimmer version of the first model, with Calendar Sync, IM, and supports 32 GB of memory.

Verdict: Instinct, you stink? We all stink for Instinct? (I got nothing.)

Mondi

CTIA visitors just loved the Mondi, with its 4.3 touchscreen LCD, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, plus 4GB of memory. Not only does the Mondi feature the Windows Mobile 6.1 Operating System, but it has the TouchWiz overlay, giving the user one-touch access to their favorite widgets. It also features Opera 9.5 and Route 66, Bluetooth 2.0, and a 3.0 Megapixel Camera/Camcorder.

Verdict: Mondi! Mondi!!

Propel Pro

This slider with the intriguing QWERTY keyboard is a follow up to the Propel (not to be referred to as the Propel Amateur). It has 32 GB worth of memory, Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth, a 3-Megapixel camera and an optical joystick.

Verdict: Gone Pro.

Source

Amazon Kindle: Clearly Mr. Bezos intended the prior version to be a milestone in the e-book reader industry, and thanks to a multi-media marketing campaign, it is. (It doesn’t hurt to be the World’s Largest Bookstore.)

Features (Original):

• Connects to 3G network for content (no hotspot needed).

Display: 6

Memory: 256 MB

Price: Originally $359 – 399

Features: (Kindle 2)

• Slimer than Original.
• Battery life 25 percent larger than original model.
• Text-to-speech allows reader to read to you
• Whispersync allows synchronization with other Kindles

Display: 6

Memory: 2 GB

Price: $359

Features: (Kindle DX)

• Large 9.7 display
• Built-in PDF reader
• Bigger Selection with Kindle Store
• Better for Graphic Rich Content

Display: 9.7

Memory: 3.3 GB

Price: $489

Foxit eSlick: A very low priced e-reader that is also one of the lightest on the market.

Display: 6 inch

Memory: 128 MB with optional 2 GB SD card

Price: $260

Fujitsu Flepia: The Flepia goes down in history has the first e-book reader to have a color e-ink screen, but probably has the largest price.

Features:

• Bluetooth
• WiFi Support
• Stylus
• Includes Windows CE 5.0
• 600,000 colors

Display: 8

Memory: 4 GB with SD card

Price:    $1,025

Hanlin eReader: An e-book reader from a Chinese company Tianjin Jinke Electronics.

Features:

• Runs a Linux-based operating system.

Display:   6

Memory: 32-MB via SDRAM

Price:      $300

Interead’s COOL-ER: These are new to the e-reader scene, and are available in eight different colors. They are the first of its kind to be designed specifically for the non-technologically inclined reader in mind.

Features:

• SD card slot
• Text-to-speech
• WiFi

Display: 6

Memory: 1GB

Price: TBD

iRex Iliad: This is an e-reader from a Phillips company spinoff that has recently completed a second version.

Features:

• Supports PDF, Images, and HTML format.
• SD Card
• Wifi Compatible
• Page Turning flipbar

Display: 8.1″

Memory: 256MB

Price $600

Plastic Logic:  Not much is known about this one as yet, but it might shake the ebook market with its large size (8 1/2 x 11 inches).

Features:

• Thin and light
• Supports Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Adobe PDFs
• Supports newspapers, periodicals, and books

Display: 8.5 x 11

Memory: Not listed

Price: TBA

Samsung Papyrus: Not the most advanced e-reader, but not the least either. It is due out later in the summer.

Features:

• Stylus for the touchscreen

Display: 6

Memory: 512 MB

Price: $300, but possibly only in Korea

Sony Reader: This was one of the earliest e-book readers, it already has three versions. One of them with a touchscreen.

Features:

• Convert to PDF.
• Partnership with Google ensures a half-million titles.

Display: 6

Memory: 512 MB

Price: $350

This is not a comprehensive list.  These are those I could find on my Source.  There is one being made from iRiver, and Hearst is actually planning to release one as well.

Clearly, the e-reader market is growing at an alarming rate.  I wouldn’t be surpirsed if colleges will require an e-reader in order for students to download their texts.